Jennifer Vander Veur

Improve Coral Reef Health by Expanding and Leveraging Stream Gulch Restoration Actions in Wahikuli, West Maui

2021

Coral Reef Alliance

"The Wahikuli-Honokowai Watershed Management Plan recommended a number of management strategies to address the issue of sedimentation. The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) is grateful to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for this funding towards a successful stream gulch restoration project to ensure that the corals of West Maui are healthy and continue to populate nearby reefs in Maui, Lana'i, and Moloka'i. Specifically, NOAA provided funding for the installation of an additional 34 best management practices (BMPs) along a 1,000 ft. stretch of highly erosive stream gulch zone in the Wahikuli Watershed. We also advanced an effort to protect these zones from future development across West Maui and Hawai'i by raising awareness about this approach and worked with Maui County to identify a policy instrument to protect these areas from future development as a ridge-to-reef approach to mitigate sedimentation on coral reefs across West Maui and the rest of the state. CORAL will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the BMPs and share results with practitioners, funders, and decision makers. This project had three objectives: Objective 1: Stabilize a highly erosive site in Wahikuli Watershed by installing 30 sediment reduction Best Management Practices (BMPs) within a 1,000 ft. x 100 ft. stream gulch area along the edge of Wahikuli Gulch. Objective 2: Quantify the effectiveness of stream gulch restoration along Wahikuli Gulch. Objective 3: Leverage monitoring results from restoration sites to raise awareness among conservation practitioners and decision makers across Hawai'i about the benefit of restoring and protecting stream gulch zones from future development; and identify a policy instrument to ensure state-wide adoption of this approach."

watershed, erosion, stormwater, turbidity, restoration, best management practices, BMPs, West Maui, Hawaii

NOS

OCM

FY2021 CRCP Project ID 31224; Project Title: FY19 - Domestic Coral Reef Conservation Grants; Principal Investigator: Liz Fairey; Grant NA19NOS4820116.

NA19NOS4820116